The group sat huddled in the tiny cave. They’d been walking for what seemed like days, trying desperately to return to the settlement.

“We just have to make it through the warehouse, and we’re home free,” whispered Jake.

“But what about… them?” Damien asked. “We know they’re in there. Let’s not pretend we won’t be spotted the second we enter the building.”

“Don’t worry,” Jake assured the group, “We just gotta be quiet and stay out of the light.”

Damien wasn’t so sure. “Easier said than done, Jake. You know how well those things can hear. And they’ve got the place lit up like a crime scene.”

“Pssh. Quit being such a pussy. We’ve come this far, haven’t we? Now shut up. We need to go. Damien, Wes, follow me.” Jake motioned for the group to move.

 

Slowly, the three men crawled from the mouth of the cave. They’d been lucky. Someone, or something, had tried to dig through the wall of the warehouse. It looked like one of the creatures had gotten to it before it had finished. Fortunately, there was only a tiny bit of wall remaining, so the group had been able to chip through it fairly quickly and silently. They were fairly certain none of the creatures had heard.

Jake slowly crawled across the cold concrete floor of the warehouse. He gradually inched his way behind a pile of crates. He waved for the others to come join him.

“Alright, Wes. You see those crates over there?” Jake motioned to another stack of boxes. “I bet you can climb those. Try to reach a good vantage point and see if any of those things are in here. Damien, you follow me. We’ll try to find a way through this place here on the ground.”

“Got it,” replied Wes. Damien said nothing. He had a feeling something was wrong. He didn’t want to mention it, lest he would risk even more ridicule from Jake.

“Okay, let’s move.” Wes crawled towards the large stack of crates, while Jake began to move slowly towards a new hiding spot. Damien reluctantly followed. The two of them watched as Wes climbed higher and higher. He slowly moved across the top of the boxes, wary to avoid the light. Damien began to feel a mounting dread. He tried to shake it, but it wouldn’t leave him. He wanted to scream to Wes, tell him to get down from there.

But it was too late. Slowly, a figure silently crept up behind Wes. It looked like some sort of animal-like creature, with long, powerful legs, and deep black fur covering its entire mass. It looked to be almost feline in nature. Damien saw it hunch down. He knew what would happen next. The creature pounced on Wes. He barely had time to scream before his throat had been slashed. As blood poured out, the creature began to devour him. The blood soaked the fur around the creature’s mouth, giving it a sickening maroon glint.

Damien was about to scream, but Jake put a hand over his mouth. “We can still escape. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet. Let’s go!” Hissed Jake.

Damien softly turned his head behind him. “It’s too late, Jake,” he whimpered as he stared into the pale green eyes of another one of the creatures. “They found us…”

 

 

It’s been three years since they appeared. Nobody knows where they came from. Some say, they’ve always been here on Earth, growing their forces… Only now did they choose to mount an invasion on humanity. Others say that they’re some sort of hostile alien race from a faraway planet. Still others think they’re some sort of “werewolf” type creature… “were-cats”, I guess. Some people say they’ve seen the creatures “shifting” from almost human-type creatures to a much more “beast-like” form. I don’t know if I believe them. Everyone else here thinks those people are crazy. I kind of do too. Maybe it’s true. Maybe it isn’t.

They call themselves the “Khalnorim”. We usually just call them “the things” or “the beasts” or “those motherfuckers”. You know, pleasant stuff like that.

It doesn’t matter, really. They’ve already wiped out most of us. Only Aelomina and a couple other fortresses remain. Supplies are running low. The settlement leaders are forcing me and two other guys to go on an “expedition” to find more food. According to them, they heard tell of some food stores in an underground shelter a few miles away from here. I think they’re lying. I don’t think anyone expects us to find food, or even return from this mission. The leaders just want three fewer mouths to feed. But whatever. It’s not like I can protest, or they’ll just shoot me dead on the spot. Might as well try to find at least a bit of food.

 

 

The beast looked ready to take down both of them. It opened its mouth, and was just about to bite down on Damien’s head when they all heard a deep voice bellowing: “Halt!” The beast slowly closed its mouth and backed away. Jake nervously whispered,

“Who was…”, but he was cut off. They saw a figure of a man step in front of them. He was tall and robust, with dark, thick skin. His long black hair sank down below his waist. At first, the two survivors thought the strange figure was simply another man, but as they looked at him, their hearts sank. To their dismay, they saw two cat-like ears reaching from the top of his head, and a tail slowly flicking at his back. “It’s one of them!” said Jake.

 

“Shh! Don’t make it mad! It saved us for some reason, so let’s be thankful for that.” Replied Damien.

“You there!” The Khalnorim pointed at Damien. “Stand up, human.”

He nervously obeyed. The man looked him up and down.

“Mmm…” He spoke in an unknown language to the beast behind Damien and Jake.

“Moaka netwe shenku. Nette doro.”

As the man spoke, the beast behind them began to shift into the shape of a man, similar to the other Khalnorim before them.

Jake looked up at Damien. “They can do that?”

“Shut up!”

“You there!” said the man before them, pointing at Damien. “What is your name, human?”

“D-Damien…” he whispered.

“Mmm. Damien…” the large man mused. “Come with me, Damien.” He turned to the other Khalnorim. “Weken ge otoro ae kojontu.” The man nodded, and began to lead Jake away.

“Where are you taking him?” Damien asked.

“Do not worry, human. Your friend will be safe. He will merely be put into a cell for safe-keeping.”

“So then why did you kill my other friend?”

“We did not know he was part of your group, domek.” Replied the man.

“Why does that change anything?”

“You ask many questions, kodun.”

Damien decided to keep any other questions to himself. The man seemed intent on keeping his secrets safe. As the two of them walked deeper into the warehouse, Damien decided that this was probably the end. The man was probably lying, right? Surely both Jake and Damien would be eaten sooner or later. Why wouldn’t they? Damien resigned himself to his fate, and doggedly kept walking.

 

“Get in,” the man ordered, pointing at a coffin-like box.

“Wha… What? In there? W-Why?”

“You’ll understand soon enough. Get in.”

“It won’t… uh… kill me… will it?” Damien asked.

“No. Get in.” the man replied, looking visibly irritated.

“Al…right…” Damien slowly entered the coffin, his hands shaking. He laid down softly as the lid was closed above him. He started to feel woozy, as a gas began to enter the coffin. A few seconds later, he blacked out.

 

 

 

Damien’s eyes fluttered open. He was no longer in the coffin. He found he was lying on a cold stone slab, in a seemingly empty room.

“At least they didn’t kill me…” he thought. He tried to sit up, but quickly fell back down.

His muscles ached horribly. As he lay on the stone, pondering what they did to him, he heard footsteps approaching.

“You no move. Must rest.” Said a new voice.

“Must be a Khalnorim guard or something.” Damien thought. “I hope they haven’t killed Jake yet. God knows they’ve got him strung over a fire, and that coffin thing they stuck me in was some device for cooking humans.”

Damien heard more footsteps approaching.

“Ah, you have awoken.” It was the large, dark-skinned man. “Good, good. It looks like you handled the process quite nicely.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Damien. “What did you do to me?”

“Have you not noticed by now?” The man gave a short laugh. “Humans have such dull senses. Good thing you are not one of them, is it not?”

Damien’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? Of course I’m human! What have you done to me?!”

“Hostile, hostile. We are only trying to help, duvod.”

“It seems like every word he speaks is more cryptic than the last…” Damien thought. “Help? You’re the ones who’ve nearly wiped out humanity! And now you say that you want to help? Would you care to enlighten me as to what the hell’s going on?”

The man seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. A soft smile slowly crossed his face. “Yes, Damien. I believe you deserve an explanation.”

 

“We are, as many of your kind assume, alien to this planet. An…” the man’s brow furrowed. “…unimportant event forced us to leave our home world, and relocate to another. Yours is the first we happened upon. We came to the planet, hoping to find refuge, to mingle with the inhabitants of your world. However, we were taken prisoner almost immediately. They tried to study us. We had to escape, lest it spell the end for our race.”

“But why wipe out almost every human on the earth?” asked Damien.

“We wanted the casualties to end after the doctors who were keeping us custody. But the military of your former country mounted a full-scale war on us. We had to retaliate. We never wanted to kill so many of the humans, but they forced our hand, so to speak. As I’m sure you noticed, our race can shift into a more… feral form. It was an unfortunate necessity to utilize it, as both a fear tactic, and… morbidly effective way of eliminating threats…” the man looked away from Damien’s gaze. “I am… sorry… for killing so many of your former kind. If it is any consolation, I gained no pleasure from the deaths of your comra-”

“Wait.” Damien interjected. “What do you mean, ‘former kind’?”

The man’s face twisted into a mirthful smile. “Ah. You hadn’t noticed yet.”

Damien looked at him, confused. “Noticed… what?”

“Do you not sense any… difference…? Perhaps in your senses, or other places…?” the man asked with a teasing tone.

“What are you talking about?”

The man smiled wryly. “I think I see an insect on your ear, dovaan. Go on, flick it off.”

Damien, confused, slowly lifted his hand up to his ear. He was shocked to find nothing there.

“What?” He reached his other hand for the opposite ear. It wasn’t there either. The man folded his arms, softly pointing upwards with his finger.

“Surely not…” Damien thought. His hands slowly traced up his head until they felt an unfamiliar shape, and his fears were confirmed. He felt two fur-covered, triangular ears on top of his head. As his hands touched them, they instinctively flicked back, to bat away the fingers.

 

His face reddened, and he furiously looked at the man, drilling him with an icy glare.

“Wha-What did you do to me?!” he yelled. “You turned me into one of YOU?!”

The man smiled. “Yes and no.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Quit talking in riddles and tell me what the hell is going on!”

The man leaned back against the wall. “Well, you see, you never really were one-hundred percent human in the first place. You were born to one of our own. Your mother was killed during… one of the human’s raids. In the chaos, you were mistaken for one of their children and brought back to their settlement.”

“I’m not saying that I believe your story, but if I did, why wouldn’t they have just killed me then? Wouldn’t I have had ears and a tail?”

“Fortunately for you, no. Our young are born without such features. They usually grow during the time humans would call “puberty”. However, there are certain living conditions one requires for these developments, which were not met during your upbringing. Therefore, you seemed completely human to your caretakers. But there is a way to “unlock” your true self, a service which was gracefully provided for you a few hours ago. “

Damien scowled. “My ‘true self’? Bullshit. I’m a human; that’s my ‘true self’. I’m not one of you… cat freaks!”

“Please, Damien.” The man looked apologetic. “We just want to help you. You do not realize the harm it would have caused had you stayed that way.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Damien.

“By my count, you are 19, correct?” Damien slowly nodded. “Events such as yours have happened before. When one of our young reaches their rammas, or their twentieth year, who has not had the proper measures taken to... correct their form, shall we say- the results can be quite disastrous. You’ve seen how we shift before. That would have happened to you, except unlike us, your sentience would not be intact. You would become a beast, inside and out, destroying all around you. We could not let that happen again.” Damien stared at the floor, unwilling to meet the man’s eyes.

“I…I want to be alone for a while…”

The man smiled softly. “Of course. Let me show you to some more comfortable quarters. You may take all the time you need.”

 

Damien sat on the bed, lost in thought. “Why me? Why can’t I just be a normal human like everybody else? Why do I have to be one of these… freaks?” He laid back on his bed, noticing how his slender black tail rapidly flicked from side to side. He stared at it with disdain. He lifted his foot up, and stomped on the tail, hoping to make it stop moving. He cried out in a disturbingly animalistic yelp as the pain seared through his tail. “Stupid piece of shi…” He muttered to himself. He threw himself down on the bed, burying his face in the pillow. He felt hot tears begin to stream down his face.

 

As the man stood outside the room, he heard the sounds of sobbing from within. “It’s never easy for them, is it?”, he thought to himself. He slowly sauntered away, thinking it would be best to leave the boy to himself for a while.